Music: {allcanada} Smyth, Dubnyk lead Oilers by Flames

Friday, December 27, 2013

{allcanada} Smyth, Dubnyk lead Oilers by Flames

Stanley Cup Classics - NHL Stanley Cup

CALGARY -- The Edmonton Oilers could only manage to put one puck behind Calgary Flames goaltender Reto Berra.

That was all they needed.

Ryan Smyth's first of two goals held up, and Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves in his second shutout of the season, lifting the Oilers to a 2-0 victory in the Battle of Alberta at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

After losing six straight games, the Oilers posted back-to-back wins for the third time this season.

It didn't take long for Smyth to score the winner.

Standing to the right of Berra, he chested Ales Hemsky's high centering feed into the Flames net 17:22 into the game.

The goal was a measure of revenge for Smyth, who saw an earlier power-play opportunity taken away after Chris Butler poked the puck off the stick of the Oilers forward while staring down an empty net.

The goal came after Mark Giordano thought he put the Flames on the board at 14:53.

Joe Colborne and David Jones failed to connect on a 2-on-1 rush, but the play continued and Giordano got ahold of the puck at the blue line. He unleashed a wrister that beat Dubnyk but was immediately waived off after Colborne impeded Dubnyk's movement.

Though the Flames pressed, Edmonton kept Calgary off the board over the remaining 40 minutes.

The best scoring opportunity of the second period came off the stick of the Oilers.

After the Flames hemmed the Oilers in their own zone for a shift, a cleared puck got behind the duo of Shane O'Brien and Christopher Breen, springing Anton Lander on a breakaway. Berra stared down Lander before kicking out his right pad to keep the Flames within one.

After Berra turned aside Luke Gazdic before wrestling away Nail Yakupov's rebound attempt four minutes into the third, Giordano came close again, skipping a shot off the glove of Dubnyk before hitting the crossbar.

Dubnyk denied Giordano again with 3:36 remaining, trapping the wrister of the Flames captain under his pads.

Though Giordano scored with 4.2 seconds remaining to force overtime in Calgary's 4-3 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, the Flames couldn't replicate the comeback with Berra on the bench for a sixth skater.

Giordano's tripping minor with 19:02 of the third forced Berra back to the crease.

Another shot with the extra attacker failed for the Flames when Smyth found the empty net with 5.8 seconds remaining to drop Calgary to 1-14-2 when trailing after two periods.

NHL Greatest Rivalries, Vol. 5 - NHL Greatest Rivalries